NHL Playoff Commercial Review (Rounds 1 & 2)
Thursday, May 21, 2009

With two rounds of the NHL Playoffs down and two rounds to go, I thought it fitting to recap the most important part of this sporting events: the commercials. Here are some that have caught my eye so far:

A YouTube search for "the most interesting man in the world" will give you a good deal of outtakes, other commercials, and back story. However, nothing quite sets it up like this commercial. The most striking part of this commercial (to me) is when we see him engaged in kendo practice. I wish there was an entire movie of The Most Interesting Man In The World doing kendo. I'm always ashamed when a commercial entertains me on the level where I want to watch it a second time. The only thing that ashames me more is that if I am presented with the choice of Dos Equis on a beer menu, I will be influenced by this commercial to select it. I think that's the first time that's ever happened to me.

This is the second most homoerotic commercial ever produced. However, it's the single most homoerotic commercial that has ever been produced without the name Lorne Michaels attached to it. (See the Schmitt's Gay Beer Commercial to see a slightly more homoerotic commercial).

I'm annoyed by the guy in this commercial. The camera view bothers me. The way this jerk claps seems chumpish. And the way he lurks around the locker room and ogles Alexander Ovechkin who is strangely poking a phalic hockey stick is flat out disturbing.

What could be better than ordering a greasy pizza and having it hand-delivered by the CEO of the mega-chain that manufactured it? This series of commercials explores the answers to that question by having Big Papa personally deliver pizzas to unsuspecting customers and crashing their parties. In this commercial Papa John crashes a teenagers' pizza party by infiltrating it with his camera crew and making them have to refrain from the likely underage drinking and illegal drug use that was about to occur. However, it is impressive how well Papa John can throw a football.

I couldn't find a video of this one anywhere. In this commercial, a family of four is blindfolded, taken out of their house, driven around for a while, then brought back home and told they are in a restaurant. This is all presumably done with their consent. The family is then fed Pizza Hut pasta and asked to review it. Then, much to their shock, they are told that they're actually at home and this is Pizza Hut's delivery pasta. They are shocked that they are at home even after the blindfolded walk back up their unique back steps, and into their home which has none of the characteristic sounds and smells of a restaurant, but many of the characteriestic sounds and smells of their own house.

The first time I saw this commercial I missed the setup and thought that this commercial was intentionally trying to be unbelievable because there's actually no way you would be able to fool someone using this method. I actually thought it was quite hilarious that they'd blindfolded some people in their own home and then asked them if they thought they were in a fancy restaurant. Sadly, I don't think they were going for intentional unbelievability.

In this commercial, a bunch of drunk assholes take a cab home because they have consumed too much Heineken. An old cab driver doesn't spend the entire cab ride talking in muffled tones on his cellphone but, instead, joins in an improptu group singing of Biz Markie's "Just a Friend."